I don't have an oscope that works, but I was wondering if anyone has used Winscope. Actually I have a TDS210 that doesn't work and would like to check the crystals and was wondering if this software would suffice. I checked the power supply voltages with my DMM and all of the voltages check out, but I definately need a scope to check some of the other stuff. If anyone knows of any other software besides this I would be happy to know about it too.
Thanks Shane
What sort of signal frequencies? AFAIK, Winscope etc don't go much over 2 Mhz but maybe that was then.
Homer J Simpson spake thus:
Since Winscope uses the sound card, you'd be limited by the ADC's upper frequence limit, no?
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Yes it works. OSC251 by Konstantin Zeldovich is more reliable imho. These software scopes are well featured but basic specced, the soundcard maxes out at around 20kHz and theres no dc path.
NT
Sound card 'scope software is grossly rudimentary. The vertical axis can't be calibrated unless you have a known AC voltage reference available, that has outputs at the levels that you're interested in measuring. As has been pointed out, the vertical bandwidth is severely limited by the bandwidth of your sound card. Bear in mind that the sound card uses a sampling algorithm to convert the input signal into a digital response pattern. If you're looking at anything close to a square wave, be prepared for severe distortion when viewing the signal. And there is no DC coupling available unless the sound card is DC coupled, which is highly unlikely. Unless the crystals that you want to check are in the audio region, forget about software 'scopes. Useless for that. That's not to say that they serve no purpose at all... they can be very useful when analyzing low-level audio. Good software can turn your PC into an inexpensive audio spectrum analyzer, frequency response test set, etc. Just be aware of the limitations.
-- Dave M MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just substitute the appropriate characters in the address) Some days you're the dog, some days the hydrant.
easy enough to hook 2 Rs onto a transformer, along with a multimeter. No point trying to get these soundcard scopes 1% accurate.
the
you mean due to loss of frequencies above 20kHz? Or something else.
Despite their patchy tech specs they can be handy things. Their other issue is that soundcards have no input protection, so its a good idea to use a buffer if you want to use one of these scopes on an ongoing basis.
NT
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